The Netherlands lost its membership in the exclusive AAA rating club. This morning S&P downgraded Netherlands to AA+ leaving just Germany, Luxembourg and Finland as the only nations in the eurozone that still maintain an AAA rating.

Spain is expected to begin its recovery in 2014 with a 0.8 percent economic growth following by 1.2 percent growth in 2015. S&P reaffirmed the country's rating at BBB-/A-3 but its outlook has been raised to “stable” from “negative.”

Eurozone unemployment slipped to 12.1 percent in October from 12.2 percent in September.

Unemployment rate in Japan came in at 4 percent, slightly higher than the 3.9 percent forecasted.

Equities-Specific News of Note

During an interview with Bloomberg TV, Belus Capital Advisors CEO Brian Sozzi sees parts of J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) being a “virtual ghost-town, pretty much as it has looked the entire year.” Macy's (NYSE: M) has been singled out as a winner in the all important super competitive Black Friday retail space. J.C. Penney nevertheless finished higher by 0.79 percent, closing at $10.16. Macy's declined 0.52 percent, closing at $53.26.

Target (NYSE: TGT) reported a “strong start” to Black Friday, citing doorbusters as driving heavy traffic to both brick and mortar locations as well as online. Shares of Target lost 0.75 percent, closing at $63.93.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) saw over 10 million transactions between 6:00pm and 10:00pm last night. Shares of Wal-Mart gained 0.10 percent, closing at $81.01. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $81.34 earlier in the trading day.

According to Bloomberg Alan Mulally and Satya Nadella are the two frontrunners to replace Steve Ballmer as head of Microsoft. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Shares closed higher by 1.41 percent at $38.13. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $38.29 earlier in the trading day.

Shares of Zoom Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOOM) surged 169.17 percent, closing at $6.46 (trading as high as $8.30 in the morning) following the company entering into a letter of intent with Beijing Baifen to acquire, directly or indirectly, all the outstanding shares of Baifen

Frontline Ltd. (NYSE: FRO) gained 9.89 percent, closing at $3.00 following the Baltic Dry index climbing more than 9 percent on Thursday. The index provides “an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea.”

Decliners of Note

Shares of Renren (NASDAQ: RENN) tumbled 11.04 percent, closing at $2.98 after the company offered a weak fourth quarter guidance and mixed third quarter results. Analysts at Jefferies cut Renren to Underperform

W&T Offshore (NYSE: WTI) announced that the company is facing suspension from fedal contracts due to pollution issues. Shares declined 9.04 percent, closing at $17.21.

Earnings of Note

No companies reported earnings Friday.

Quote of the Day

"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day." - Irv "Kup" Kupcinet, famed newspaper columnist, television talk-show host and radio broadcast personality.